LOCAL LIFE

Film
Season’s mediocre lineup ends with promising biopic 

GREG MARZULLO
Friday, August 22, 2008

With one notable exception, gay films in this fall’s lineup are more of the “gay-interest” variety than actual stories about gay and transgender people. That said, there are still some curiosities and even some notable oddities that will keep movie fans heading out to the multiplexes.

September’s pretty bleak. Even gay fans of the Harry Potter franchise (who were thrilled at the revelation from series’ author J.K. Rowling about sage Professor Albus Dumbledore being gay) will have to wait until July after Warner Brothers decided to bump the film because of the already grim financial projections for next year’s traditional blockbuster season.

Old school queens regardless of age should be wary of an upcoming remake of “The Women,” written and directed by Diane English who has no directing experience and has worked mostly as a writer for the TV series “Murphy Brown.” If that’s not enough to give one pause, this cast can’t hold a candle to the 1939 assemblage who turned the film into a camp classic. The great Norma Shearer role has gone to Meg Ryan of all people. She plays a woman whose no-good husband is cheating on her with Eva Mendes (Joan Crawford in the first film).

In the 20th-century version, the heroine’s attempt to regain her husband leads to one of the greatest bitch fests ever captured on celluloid. However, according to Entertainment Weekly, this new incarnation will be decidedly less catty (and dare I say less fun). Ryan is quoted as saying, “It’s a story about female friendship.” Let’s hope English doesn’t turn the snappy story into a saccharin, gutless bore. It opens Sept. 12.

Washington will see the release of Alan Ball’s “Towelhead,” which played last year’s Sundance Film Festival. Ball, who’s gay and known for writing and directing “American Beauty” and HBO’s “Six Feet Under,” wrote and directed this film about a young Arab-American girl who goes to live with her strict father in Houston. Full of raging adolescent hormones, she begins a sexual awakening that involves at least one inappropriate older man. Toni Collette and Aaron Eckhart are some of the bigger names attached to this film, although Summer Bishil takes the leading role. It opens Sept. 16.

OCTOBER PICKS UP the pace a bit, starting with “Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist.” Michael Cera (the good-natured and emotionally naive boyfriend in “Juno”) plays the only straight guy in a queer band, and he ends up falling for a girl (Kat Dennings) during a romp through Manhattan. Look for it Oct. 3.

Sundance Film Festival entry “Breakfast With Scot” is this month’s shining star. A very queeny 11-year-old ends up (through some family machinations and demises) living with his gay uncles, one of whom (played by Tom Cavanagh) is a TV sportscaster and former professional hockey player. Mr. Straight-Acting is confronted with his own sissy-phobia when the boy turns out to love musicals and his pink poodle belt. This could be the movie that gays not only have been waiting for but need. As the culture slides into more mainstream acceptance, subtle layers of homophobia (internal and external) come to the forefront as they do in this likely enlightening and charming film. It opens Oct. 10.

Rather than “The Women,” this fall’s true woman-power film could be “The Secret Life of Bees,” based on the best-selling and much-loved book of the same title. Young Dakota Fanning stars as a Southern girl who escapes her abusive father along with their black maid (played by gay fave and Academy Award-winner Jennifer Hudson). Set in 1964, racial tensions are perilously high, but the disparate pair ends up at a house and bee farm owned by three African-American sisters, Alicia Keys, Sophie Okonedo and the presumed-to-be-lesbian Queen Latifah. It opens Oct. 17.

If club queens young and old can drag themselves out of the bars long enough for a film, they’ll probably see “Filth and Wisdom,” Madonna’s directorial debut. The story follows an eclectic and eccentric group of friends and roommates in London, each trying to eke out another day in their bizarre and often hilarious lives (including Gogol Bordello’s Eugene Hutz as the protagonist who spanks men for money). The U.K. Times gave the flick a semi-positive review, which is a nice surprise given that Madge is usually hammered for her cinematic efforts. Opens Oct. 17.

Locally, the Reel Affirmations film festival runs from Oct. 16-25 and celebrates its 18th anniversary. There will be parties, panel discussions, a women’s brunch, and, of course, dozens of LGBT-themed films. The Blade will have complete coverage as the festival nears.

The real catch this season could be “Milk,” the film about Harvey Milk who was the first openly gay man elected to political office. He was assassinated in 1978 by former San Francisco City Supervisor Dan White. Although both Milk and his lover are played by straight actors (Sean Penn and James Franco, respectively), there’s hope to be had for a truly queer read on this historic figure. Gay director Gus Van Sant is at the helm.

Unlike fiction-based films by straight artists that end in tragedy (queers can’t possibly live sustainable lives, right?), this movie’s story is shockingly true and rings all-too-familiar. Once gays make it up toward the top, some psycho comes along to tear us down. Yet, this film, already generating Oscar buzz, is proof yet again that ideas never die. It opens Nov. 26.

national | local | world | arts | classifieds | real estate | about us

© 2009 | A Window Media LLC Publication | Privacy Policy